I almost finished my planer stand. I was putting on the legs when I decided to flip it over, to see how it was… the nails I had used to start the project with, since I was out of screws, mostly bent in half.. a few sheered… without the planer on it.. just its weight alone… And these were not pins either… some of them were in excess of 3in long… The rest that was made with screws was fine…

So tommorows plan is to finish screwing it…together that is..caught ya….:)..

So class.. what was todays lesson… “Nails are bad, and screws are good”..

On a side note, Delta finally called, they put through the authorization to have someone out to fix my saw… about time…

Thats kinda what I was thinking Randy. I frame houses for a living and have built miles and miles worth of homemade scaffolding. When I first started I was scared of the scaffolding so I nailed the heck out of it. Then the boss man made me tear down the scaffolding that I nailed up and well… I just use about three nails now. I used to know the shear strenght of different size nails but I have forgotten what they are. I do know that a naill will bend and pull out way before it will shear.

Newbie,Never use a nail when screws will work better….Certain applications apply when to use one or the other.lol..I know in the past, I’ve made the wrong use of one or the other, and paid dearly for it..Live and learn….lol.

Zeke, if I remember right it was 150 lbs for a 3 1/2 spike, I know when I framed we used to drive 1 or 2 spikes on each side of a 2×4 to make a temp ladder to climb up on steep trusses (12/12) and it had no problem with repeated use with a few 200 lb guys…

Newbie, you must have had faulty old nails…fortunate you didn’t damage any equipment!

-- Randy "You are judged as much by the questions you ask as the answers you give..."

Believe me… I didnt put my equipment on there until I was sure I could sit on it(about 200#)...

Rick… believe me.. I use screws for everything.. I just didnt have a bit at the time, so I wanted to use nails… the next day I went out and got some star drive screws(I swear by these things… I have yet to strip one… knock on wood.. worth the extra dime..) I should have replaced the nails when I had a chance…

When they first came out with the general purpose wood screws I fell in love. Easy to drive, they draw the parts together rather than forcing them apart as nails do. They don’t slip and loosen with time. And I even trust them in end grain – something I would never do with a nail.

Seriously, I find myself using few nails now. The only nails I use are air-nailed 18 Gauge brads – with glue. If I can’t screw it, I won’t nail it!